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Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET)
Sustainable development

New ways of exploring urban development

With prospects of an extensive transformation of the biggest cargo-port on the Norwegian west coast into a sustainable urban mixed business and residential area, researchers and students from CET were invited to give their perspectives on sustainable urbanism at BYLAB.

Two women presenting infront of crowd
Collaboratory student co-ordinators Ronya Solberg and Synnøve Beitnes sharing their visions for sustinable urban development.
Photo:
Jakob Grandin

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No less than 5 researchers and students from CET were present at Bergen Urban Lab (BYLAB) when 130 actors from all sectors met for a half-day workshop on the sustainable urban development of Dokken.

Our Collaboratory student coordinators for Bergen international student conference (BISC) Ronya Solberg and Synnøve Beitnes and PhD candidate Jakob Grandin shared their visions and aspirations for truly sustainable urban development.

- We have to start analysing the term "sustainable". We push this diluted word in front of us to steer clear of the uncomfortable changes we need to make," they noted.  

Today, sustainability must be disruptive and rapid, added Jakob Grandin, and emphasised the need to build a city that enables sustainability in the everyday life.

PhD candidate Kristin Kjærås gave some valuable perspectives on sustainable housing policies, highlighting the need for affordable housing with dignity. PhD candidate Brooke Wilkerson gave us some food for thoughts about biodiversity and cities for bees. She argued for the "250 metre city" as bees can only fly 250 m from habitat to habitat.

The CET delegation stayed on for the entire workshop, collaborating with actors from all sectors on how Dokken will become a beacon of environmental, social and economic sustainability, and how we have to make sure that ambitions and objectives are in line with international, national and local climate targets within energy use, mobility and consumption.